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Wayne State University research team receives new NIH grant to
study numerical processing in infants with fetal alcohol
disorders
DETROIT, Dec. 5, 2011: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs)
are one of the most common causes of birth defects worldwide and
are particularly prevalent in some South African communities
where heavy drinking during pregnancy is a major public health
issue, particularly in the wine-growing areas of the Western
Cape.
FASDs have long-term, significant effects on neurocognitive and
behavioral development, including problems with attention,
learning, memory and social skills. They can also cause heart
defects, facial dysmorphic features, poor growth, and decreased
muscle tone and coordination. A team of researchers led by
Sandra W. Jacobson, Ph.D., and Joseph L. Jacobson, Ph.D.,
professors of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences in Wayne
State University's School of Medicine recently received a
$413,440 grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health to conduct a new
study designed to improve the diagnosis of FASDs. Improved
diagnosis can lead to the development of better-targeted
treatments for specific deficits found in children with these
disorders.
According to S. Jacobson, infants as young as 5 months of age
can look at a display of stimuli that involve simple numbers and
mentally manipulate them. However, alcohol-exposed infants do
not show the same ability to process this numerical information
when shown the same stimuli.
"Infants exposed to heavy prenatal alcohol exposure do not
exhibit the same response as non-exposed infants," said
Jacobson. "In the newly funded study, we will use event-related
potentials (ERP) that measure brain waves to examine the time
course and specific components of information processing in
alcohol-exposed and non-exposed infants. We then can specify
which components of number processing are affected by fetal
alcohol exposure."
The study will examine whether magnitude comparison, which is
the ability to detect larger or smaller quantities, and/or error
monitoring, which is an early precursor of executive function,
are affected when the exposed infants perform a simple numerical
discrimination task. The team's earlier research shows that
alcohol-exposed infants do not perform well on this test. The
ERP version of this test will help determine which aspects of
numerical processing are likely impaired by the alcohol
exposure.
This type of research on these two early-developing potential
neurocognitive biobehavioral markers could improve understanding
of what is impaired by studying specific aspects of central
nervous system function that can be linked biologically to fetal
alcohol exposure. This, in turn, can provide important
information about the pathophysiology of FASDs and contribute to
the development of improved treatments for the specific deficits
of this disorder.
“Dr. S. Jacobson's research is addressing a critical research
area that currently lacks specific diagnostic criteria and an
understanding of the neural structures that underlie specific
cognitive deficits due to repeated fetal alcohol exposure," said
Hilary Ratner, Ph.D., vice president for research at Wayne State
University. "She is a leader in the field of fetal alcohol
research and this is another example of the high impact research
Wayne State University faculty are engaged in.”
Source:
http://wayne.edu
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